- Hello, Patrick! First of all, let's talk a bit about Pestilence. Last year it was announced that the band was put on a permanent hold. What was the reason of this decision? Did you consider any other options?- We held the Pestilence flag high for about 25 years. A lot has changed through the years. Record companies policies have changed, the market has changed, the touring has changed and the music scene has also changed a lot. A lot of new bands have emerged and a lot of new styles within the extreme music. We have always strived to be different than most of the death metal band out there. We found it very hard to keep up this re-invention of our own style. Fans kept wanting to hear the old material more than adapting to the newer material. We therefore had to come to the conclusion that bringing out new material and thus style change to keep it interesting for ourselves, had no more use, which is a shame really. It is very alarming that the most of our fans and listeners are so used to our second and third album. It almost seemed that all the material we brought out was of lesser quality. I personal feel that OBSIDEO is/was our best Pestilence album ever. We where able to combine all our styles, from Malleus to Doctrine, into one!!! But this effort was really a big disappointment for us.

- Before that announcement you had a big European tour. How did it go? How was it to have a show together with Massacre and how did it happen that they joined you? - Again, the turn up, because of the financial depression and high touring costs together with the reaction of the fans towards the setlist gave us the impression that this could be our last time to play in the Pestilence format. Playing together with Massacre, I really don’t know. Nowadays band keep to themselves most of the time backstage. I watched maybe 2 songs or so, but I really couldn't get into anything anymore, since we had to take care of our own business. Even Massacre couldn't draw extra crowds. Now we know that they also split up. It’s hard for extreme bands in these times to survive musically and financially.

- During that tour, have you already known about the upcoming band's split up? Did you have any feeling about a big loss or was it rather some kind of a relief? - It is kind of sad that there is almost no room for progression in this scene. So it was a bit of a relieve that I can now work with other musicians under a different project name. I now don’t have to play out of the body until the end of my musical carrier, which is great.

- Let's go back in time, after Martin left the band, and Nick Sagias joined you for just a couple of months. Why didn't he stay for any longer and how did you take the decision to be in charge of vocals? After so many years, what can you say now about that critical period of time for the band?- We just couldn't work together with Nick at that point in time, musically and personally. Martin was fired because of personal reasons which I’m not going to address anymore. It has been so long ago that it really doesn't matter anymore. Martin was not capable to combine singing and playing the bass, so we where in search of a new bassplayer, which we found in Tony Choy for Testimony and later Resurrection Macabre . I took over the vocal duties once more (since I sang for Pestilence during demo time) and I liked the more death grunty style for Pestilence. We were leaning more and more to the Death Metal style, leaving the Thrash Metal more.

- Let's move toward your new project Neuromorph. How did you come up with that name? What would be the best description for the music you are working on now? How is different the new material with Neuromorph from what you did in the past? - The project was initially called Necromorph, but there seemed to be a German grindband out there that already had that name, so I changed it into Neuromorph, which was an even more powerful meaning!!! I have always played the same Mameli style riffing. For Pestilence, C-187 and now Neuromorph. The only difference always was the line-up and the approach to the music in that format. But for Neuromorph, I will tap into the most sick and brutal approach to extreme music. No boundaries regarding the Pestilence format. Just sheer brutality. Lots of blast, off-beat, crazy leads, and the sickest vocals of Yusef Wallace.

- Will you be again doing guitars/vocals at the same time or will it be guitars only? Could you already reveal the complete line-up? - For Neuromorph, I will only play guitars. I feel great about just playing guitars again after such a long time handling both.This will give me so much more freedom to create more intricate riffs, since I have not to think about ever doing this stuff live. Although, Although Neuromorph is really a studio project and we have no intentions of playing live at the moment, one never knows. Our main goal now is to focus on creating the sickest music to be put on CD and other means of communication. We have the american based singer Yusef Walace (Rude), Georg Maier on bass (Pestilence) and me on guitars. We are checking out some drummers, but we focus on one drummer in particular. As soon as talks are done, we will surely ventilate this to the fans and the rest of the world. He is an amazing drummer, I can assure you already!!!

- Do you already know where are you going to record the first album and which label will distribute it? Have you already decided who will create the artwork?- The record company is called Imperative Music and we have a worldwide deal!!! We will use the crowdfunding format to realize this awesome project. So all help is needed here!!!! The artwork is already done and created by the amazing Triple Seis group!!!!

- In 2007 you took part in an "all-stars" band C-187. What does this name mean? How was that band created and how did you like playing in it? Is there any chance for a reunion? - It’s a police code for murder. I asked several great musicians (Choy, Reinert and Jelecovich) for this studio project and was released through Mascot Records. Sadly, this album was not received well, because of the misinterpretation of a lot of fans, that this was a gangstarap album. I only stated that I was influenced by the tv reality series COPS. This album was far from a gangstarap album. It seemed dat I had a stigma for only being associated with Pestilence. The musicianship of all the guys was amazing. And I still love listening to it a lot.

- What kind of music do you usually listen to? Are you still following the new releases from bands like Sinister, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary...? - I like a lot of different music styles. Jazz, jazz-fusion, salsa, dance, hardcore, death metal, electronic. I also like this band called The Algorhytm. I really don’t follow bands like C.C. or Obi.

- What are your major plans for this year? Do you already have any confirmed concerts? - We have no shows planned, since our main goal is to create a studio album. If there would be great interest in Neuromorph, and sales are awesome, of course we will talk to the known promoters and surely hit the stage for some performances!!!!

- Thank you for this interview, Patrick. Would you like to say some words to our readers?- Thanks you and a big shout out to all your readers!!! Keep the extreme music alive and keep supporting the scene. Support Neuromorph at Kickstarter. We will be soon online. Thanks for all the great years standing behind Pestilence and our music. Hailz to Death Metal.